a thousand souls
by it's as easy as abc
Summary: a re-written version of chapter 366. heavily implied gruvia


A Thousand Souls

Summary: A rewritten version of Chapter 366. Heavily implied gruvia

A/N: FUCK. FUCK. FUCK. Chapter 366. What is going on?!

TARTARUS HQ

A crash alerts the guard of an intruder. He hurries to it and finds a pink haired man among the rubble. He is surprised because their hideout is supposed to be top-secret.

"Erza and Mira... Where are they?!" he screams. Where were they keeping his comrades? Were they still safe? What have they done with them?

"Intruders?! Intruders, here of all places?" the creature responds in obvious bewilderment. He glances up to the hole the threat created to get in and is filled with rage. "How much do you think it'll cost to repair the ramparts you just broke?" What was up with that psycho, destroying their lair?! He's got some nerve!

ERZA'S CELL

"How noisy," the demon complains. "Yakdoriga," she summons. "Keep watch over the girl," she says. "I'm going to see what all the commotion is about," she adds, exiting the prison. "Don't touch her," she warns in a cold, commanding voice. "Otherwise all the fun I had interrogating her will go to waste."

TARTARUS HQ

"Give back Erza and Mira!" Natsu screams. His nakama are in here somewhere. Give them back!

"Oh ho. Are you a friend of our human captives?" the creature taunts. "That means you're from Fairy Tail," he says, saying the guild name with disgust. He basically adds fuel to the fire because of what he said.

"Looks like they really were here," Happy mutters. One rarely sees the Exceed that serious. Only when he's in grave danger or his comrades.

"How did you find this place, I wonder?" he asks, speaking more to himself than to the Fairies before him. "Could it be that the ex-chairman was followed? Oh my, how much will this blunder cost us?" Tartarus prides itself in its secrecy, so being intruded in their headquarters was a huge deal to them.

He throws a punch in the intruder's direction but before his fist connects with the man's face, the Fairy counters, screaming in rage. "Shut yer mouth!" he bellows.

UNKNOWN LOCATION

The animal extends and retracts its legs in an unbelievably speedy manner, bringing them closer and closer to their destination, the guild. The wind hollers in her ears but she cannot find it in her to mind in the slightest. There is just something... unsettling about something, everything. Something is wrong and she could feel it.

"We've got to head back for now the time being." It is for the best. That's why they are on this horse-tiger thing, with her arms around him, and her front pressing against his back. "It looks like they've found quite a few council members' addresses since we left," he continues, onyx eyes fixed on the road in front of him, he feels her rest her soft porcelain-colored face on his muscled back.

"Gray-sama," she says, tension laced evidently in her soft voice. He hears it, distinguishes it like a spot of red in a sea of blue. And he begins to worry immensely. She's scared, and unsettled. And her mood is dampening his, too. She has to tell him what she was thinking.

"Juvia," she says in her third person manner. "Has a bad feeling about this," she voices out. She couldn't put a finger on what was putting her so on edge, she just had this gut-feeling, and that's what scares her. The imminent threat of something, _someone_ who was going to pose a threat to Fairy Tail, to nakama, her Gray-sama. "Look at what our enemies did to that town," she says, referring to the ruins. She swears she could almost hear the screams of terror echoing within the confines of the town proper. "Juvia would understand if she was feeling sad, but... it's something _different_." There was something terribly off balance. She's sure of it.

He surprises even himself with his next move.

He places a cold, calloused hand on her soft warm ones, the one around his waist, and holds it tight. He remembers the time during the Grand Magic Games when they held hands and he asked for her to let go. Why hadn't he?

"I'm here with you," he reassures her. He realizes that her hand feels perfect in his and he doesn't want to let go. Her hand turns up, and he subconsciously laces his fingers with her delicately long ones. "Like always, Fairy Tail will come out on top." He feels her grip tighten and her body press closer to his. "Without fail," he says with head-strong conviction.

Her mood doesn't lighten when he said those words.

TARTARUS HQ

"I've been punched!" the creature exclaims. The Dragon slayer clenches his fist. _Where are they?_ he thinks. _They have to be here somewhere._ "How much will that sin cost you? How much?" he bellows in his pestering voice. He screeches out a battle cry, an annoying smile his lips.

"A thousand of your souls, you little turd!" he decides. He stands a good twenty feet away from him, and he somehow manages to throw a punch.

"His body stretched!" Happy says, stating the obvious.

Natsu manages to avoid his fist but his elastic hand circles around him, liquefies, then clings to him. The Dragon Slayer then feels a painful, draining sensation. "AAAAAAH!" he exclaims in great pain. "What is... this? My strength... is fading," he says, his voice getting softer, weaker with every word.

Happy chomps down on the demon's hand, and he miraculously lets go.

"OWIEE!" the demon says. How manly.

"Nice one, Happy!" Natsu says enthusiastically.

"That hurt, you little shit!" the creature complains, throwing Happy uncerimoniously across the room.

"The hell are you doing to Happy?!" the Dragon Slayer asks, enraged. The demon proceed with his actions as if he hadn't heard Natsu's sentiment.

That's it, Natsu thinks. No one does that to Happy! The demon then attacks Natsu viciously, but Natsu avoids every single one of his advances. He placed his palm flat on the ugly demon's face. "FIRE DRAGON'S... GRIP STRIKE!"

Natsu retracts and looks t see if the demon survived his attack.

He did.

"I've raised the price to two thousand souls, you dumb ass!" he exclaims.

"He took Natsu's flames straight to his face, but he's still..." Happy says, getting on his feet groggily.

"Franmalth," a voice calls out. "That's enough." This surprises both the Dragon Slayer and Franmalth.

"Eh?" is all the demon manages.

"Leave this to me," the voice declares. "Take the chairman and leave us."

Natsu observes the man. He wears an armor with the words Absolute Zero in the breast plate, cross-shaped earrings, and has a scar that runs across the distance between his left eye and ear.

"Silver-sama~!" Franmalth coos, beads of perspiration on his burnt face. "Well, please leave this up to me, I'll have the chairman continue with protocol as soon as possible."

"You may as well just have revealed our master plan," he says coldly, not sparing the demon a glance.

"It's gotten a lot colder in here," Natsu observes, as Happy says, "It's cold, Natsu."

"That was you, wasn't it? The guy who thawed out the Sun Village?" the man, Silver, asks.

"So you must be the bastard who froze it," he replies, venom in his tone, eyes narrowing at the perpetrator.

"A-ah, I'm grateful, really. That was sort of embarrassing," he heralded bashfully. "Apparently, I froze that village by mistake," he says scratching the back of his head, like a child would while explaining why his clothes were caked in mud.

Natsu takes a sniff of his surroundings, of Silver. "You smell like someone I know," he says slowly, as if uncertain.

"Gray," he concludes. He smelled almost exactly like Ice Princess, but... to smell alike, you have to be related, or something... Then, who was this -

Silver slashes his arm in front of him, and freezes Natsu.

_"Don't you dare utter that filthy name."_

A/N: Dammit, who the hell is Silver?!


End file.
